The Arkansas Tech Golden Suns volleyball team celebrated its last home match of 2007 and Courtney Collins' last start at Tucker Coliseum as the Golden Suns swept the Christian Brother Lady Buccaneers (10-21, 0-11) in three games (30-24, 30-25, 30-26) Thursday.

With the win, the Golden Suns (21-11, 7-3 GSC) officially qualified for the Gulf South Conference volleyball tournament Nov. 9-10.

"It's not just a sport, it's something you have a passion for, and I couldn't have asked for a better school," Collins said. "They really supported me in my career and I couldn't have asked for a better coach.

"It was a great way to end my career, it was fun. It's always good to play well as a team. That was our big focus tonight, it's senior night but it's just another game and a big win in our conference."

The Suns continue to get better each game as they were tested late in games 2 and 3. Christian Brothers rallied back from 26-19 to 27-24 in Game 3, but Tech put together some key blocks by Racheal Urquhart and Kelly O'Malley. The crowd responded as the two seemed to come up with big blocks and key spikes just when the Suns needed them.

Tech improved its hitting percentage each game the Lady Bucs, were held to a .119 hitting percentage throughout the match. The Suns got some key assists from junior Kayla Allison, who went over 4,000 career assists Thursday night.

Overall, head coach Kristy Bayer said she felt the team responded well after dropping its past two matches to conference foes Southern Arkansas and Harding.

"I think after our week last week, the team really responded well in coming in and doing the extra things that needed to be done to improve, so I was very happy to see that, especially this late in the season," Bayer said. "This season, we really haven't experienced something like that. Getting down that much and having to emotionally battle back. We really responded well ,and we know what's at stake."

Bayer said it was also a special night because of Collins and the way she played. She said Collins had a good match and has been instrumental in helping out the program.

"She's been a big part of the building and turn-around of this program, and she played amazing tonight. It was a very good way for her to end her senior year to finish out on her home court with a 3-0 win," Bayer said. "Your first four-year players are special. She's been a great leader and a very good example of what a Golden Sun should be. Courtney has set a great example for years to come of upcoming players. She's going to be talked about for a long time."

In the first game, the Golden Suns used a 6-1 run with, serving from Ashley Camp to take an early lead they would keep going up by as much as 14-9. Tech continued its dominance with Collins making four key defensive digs. Sarah Von Lienen, Dana Florian and Urquhart led the way for the Suns with five points apiece. CBU made a game of it coming within four late with the score 21-17, but went on to lose 30-24. The Suns held the Lady Bucs to a low hitting percentage of .034.

Tech survived a scare in the second game as it led as much as 18-13, but after a Christian Brothers timeout, the Lady Bucs rallied to within one, 18-17. The Suns used a timeout themselves to rally as Urquhart served to finish Christian Brothers off. Collins had a serving ace and four defensive digs, but Urquhart led the way with 10 points and 10 defensive digs. The crowd enjoyed some nice spikes from Urquhart, Ashlynn Hamrick and O'Malley. The Lady Bucs were held to a .126 hitting percentage while to Suns improved their hitting percentage from the first game, .153 to .228.

Bayer said she was impressed with Urquhart's play on offensive and defense. She said she felt the crowd and the atmosphere helped her team. Bayer said she was pleased the team distributed the ball offensively, but said they still have work to do.

"I was really excited to see the fan base come out tonight. We had great fan support this season. Not only have we had good attendance, but they've been really loud and into the match. It's been good support from the campus community as well as the River Valley community," Bayer said. "We really know what's at stake and we have our goal set in our mind, so we're really looking to clinching that No. 2 spot in the West."

Collins, a defensive specialist, ranks sixth all-time in school's history for most career service aces with 138. She posted the school's fourth best single-season for service aces with 69 in 2006. Collins posted a career best 261 digs this season and has 557 in her career, which she will likely build upon before the season is over. She posted a season-best five aces against Midwestern State on Sept. 7. She also had a season and career best 19 digs against West Florida on Sept. 15. Collins is a three-time GSC Academic Honor Roll member and is also the first player to earn four letters under Bayer. Collins appeared in 115 matches.